Mother
by Scuttlest
Summary: The world was once again at peace, Grima had been defeated and the future averted. Yet there are some things in the world that needed finding, such as forgotten family. Post-game. FE13.


**The Avatar is named Rain in this story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Rain took a moment to look upon the Ylissean flags hung through the throne room of the royal palace of Ylisse. Ylisse wasn't his birthplace, but he had chosen to identify himself with the Halidom more then any other country. This place was where many, many memories of his were made. Yet it would be a long while before he walked through the palace again.

Grima was now no more. Rain had sacrificed himself to see the dragon killed once and for all. The fell dragon was now dead and not merely put back into slumber, but the act should have ended Rain's life as well. By some miracle his existence was spared, he had just disappeared for a small time. The bonds he formed with the people of this army kept him in this world, and he was eventually found and returned to the people he belonged with. Yet now he was planning on leaving on what would likely be a very long journey.

"Your mind's made up?" Came a voice. Rain turned to see Chrom, the ruler of Ylisse. The two were closest friends, and Chrom was understandably worried about Rain leaving, especially since neither of them knew how long this journey would take.

"Yes. I know the character of my father, but… I don't know anything about my other parent."

As they learned, Rain's father was Validar, the leader of the Grimleal cult up until his death. He was dead now, after he failed to turn his own son into the fell dragon. What allowed Rain to get away from the man long ago, in times that he couldn't remember, was his mother.

No one knew anything about Rain's mother. All that was known about her was that she stole Rain right out of the crib to get him away from Validar and the fate that had been laid out for him. Rain was thankful for that, because of his mother's actions he didn't grow up as a Grima worshipping zealot, thinking that becoming Grima would be some great honor. Yet he knew nothing about the woman, and though he tried to dig up the possible memories time and again, he couldn't remember her at all.

There was no guarantee she even had much of a role in his life growing up. He might have just been plopped on some orphanage's doorstep as his mother fled from Grimleal assassins. Yet if there was any chance of him learning more about his mother, he wanted to take it. Even if he ended up not liking what he found.

That was the point of the journey Rain was about to set out on. It would be tough, having absolutely no leads to go off of. The only lead he might possibly have was his own appearance. Considering Validar's appearance and now it greatly contrasted with Rain's, he probably inherited nearly all of his physical traits from his mother. That still wasn't a whole lot to go off of, but it was the best he had.

"Well, I won't try to stop you." Chrom said, though his tone of voice seemed to say that this isn't what he wanted to see happen. Chrom would have preferred that his tactician allow for some kind of escort at the very least. Though the more malicious powers in the world had been defeated, there were still plenty of dangers out there. Rain had declined Chrom's suggestion from a few days ago of having a small unit of royal Ylissian knights accompany him. Rain didn't want his leaving Ylisse, or his arrival elsewhere, to be an event of any consequence to either the common people or any authorities. He wouldn't have an escort comprised of what were clearly part of Chrom's personal guard announcing him with trumpets everywhere he went. "I'll only ask you to return if the journey gets too hard and you need help. For right now, matters closer to home prevent me from actually leaving Ylisse."

Rain nodded. There was always a lot that could keep Chrom buried under work. "I'll be careful. You know me."

Chrom took a step forward and gave his friend a clasp on the shoulder. "Just don't get yourself involved with anyone else. I value your friendship more then your abilities as a tactician, but remember that your tactical skills are for the sake of Ylisse and no other country."

Rain chuckled a little. Flavia had once tried to pressure him into becoming Feroxi's official tactician, but the Khan eventually gave up. "Don't worry, Chrom. I'm a Ylissean asset."

"Just keep yourself safe, Rain. And come back if all your leads dry up. And if you do find your mother, you should still be careful. She might end up being a sane and reasonable individual, but she _did_ enter a relationship with someone as twisted as Validar."

"Right." Rain agreed. "I know that I barely know anything about my mother's character. But we can thank her for the fact that we met at all."

With a nod, Rain turned to the side and began to walk away. Chrom turned his attention to the flags that Rain had been looking at earlier, not a twitch of movement from them, usually there was enough wind in this room to get them to sway gently. He tried to not think of it as a sign of how life might be without Rain around.

Chrom crossed his arms and briefly allowed himself to be lost in thought. The throne room was a place where many memories of Rain were first made, but it likely didn't have the same importance to him as the Shepherd's barracks. The barracks were where Rain made many friendships, and even had his first interactions with the woman who would become his wife.

Messages had already been sent to all allied nations, Feroxi and Chon'sin were well aware that Rain was traveling, and there was a chance his journey would take them in those directions. Rain would sleep safely if he ever had any reason to be in those areas.

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Rain was approaching one of the alternative, side exits to the palace. He never wanted fame, but Chrom's personal tactician, and the official tactician of Ylisse, was very well known. He'd be recognized in an instant if he decided to use the palace's front entrance and walked right down the street.

While trying to keep his temporary departure a secret would be as bad as announcing it, and he made no secret that he was leaving, he hoped to leave with minimum fanfare. He had picked a time of day that was usually a bit more uneventful, and hoped to leave before he attracted too much attention.

"Ah, Rain, is it time to go?" Rain turned to look up the stairs. While Rain had shot down Chrom's idea of having a royal escort, Rain's wife had quickly shot down the idea of him undertaking this journey by himself. The woman was moving down the stairs, a little too quickly to be safe. Her foot inevitably missed one of the steps and she fell.

Sumia crashed onto the floor. Rain's instincts had him immediately run over to his wife, no matter how routine trips like that were. Sumia slowly picked herself up, one hand to her face as the pain from landing face-first started to sink in.

"Are you okay?" Rain asked. Secretly, he was impressed that Sumia had gotten to the last step before stumbling, but he kept the thought to himself.

Sumia took Rain's offered hand and got up. Rain softly put a hand on the bruise that formed when she tripped.

"I-I'm fine, Rain." Sumia insisted. "I'm ready to leave anytime. We're going to try and find your mother, wherever she is in the world."

Rain nodded, letting his hand fall from Sumia's face. "I'm not sure if we will find her, or if finding her will be a good thing or a bad thing, but this is something I feel I have to do. I'm sure you must think this journey is selfish on my part."

Sumia just shook her head. "If she's still alive, then I'd like to meet my mother-in-law, Rain. I'm sure she's nothing like Validar, I bet I should be thanking her far more then Validar that you became part of my life."

She gave a little smile, confirming that she was looking forward to this. She didn't think it was selfish on Rain's part at all. Of course, perhaps she was also looking forward to just spending a large amount of time with just her husband.

After Rain's attempt to sacrifice himself, Sumia never took her time with Rain for granted anymore. For the first few days after his return she never left his side, almost as if she thought he'd fade from existence again if she took her eyes off him. She didn't insist on hovering over him every waking moment anymore, but she still clearly cherished every little moment. Now, she certainly wasn't going to let him go on a journey where he might be killed without her going with him.

"Alright, let's get going then." Rain motioned to the door that led out of the palace. They turned and left, both knowing that it would be a long while before that comfortable roof was above them again. With any luck, they'd return with a perfectly sane minded, older woman with them.

"Where to, first?" Sumia asked.

"The field that Chrom found me in long ago. I may be able to retrace my steps and figure out where I was coming from on that day." He turned his head, far to the distance was the spoken of field. "Chrom found me there a few years back. It seems unlikely that any clues survived the years." He admitted, frowning a little before returning to a more neutral expression. "But if investigating the field doesn't work out, I have a few other ideas of where we can look."

"And one of those ideas has to lead us to your mother." Sumia said. "We'll find her, even if it means searching the entire world."

"If we have to search the world, there's no one I'd rather have with me."

Sumia felt herself warm at the words. Rain smiled at his wife and then motioned with his heads. They turned and set out from the palace, beginning the first day of their long journey.

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**Going off to search for mom is basically my head-canon of what the Avatar does after the story of Awakening. The Avatar either leaves on his/her own, or has whomever he/she got an S rank with as a traveling companion. This story has Sumia because that's just basically my first choice for a male Avatar's wife.**

**Though the set-up might not be possible if the Avatar marries some ruling authority figure (like male Avatar with Say'ri or female Avatar with Chrom, for example) where you'd think the Avatar would have to be staying in the realm he/she married into the royal family of. 'Cause running across the world with Chrom to deal with the Valmese invasion and then the Grimleal threat is one thing, running around with Chrom to satisfy the Avatar's curiosities about who mom was, is another.**

**Though, it's my head-canon that the Avatar's mother died from natural causes some years before Avatar and Chrom met. And in my head, the mother was a calm, loving woman, but tended to come off as very paranoid due to the threat of the Grimleal finding her. And when she died her dying words were that her child never went to Plegia or associated himself with the Grimleal, and while Avatar never understood why mom was so dead set against him having anything to do with the Grimleal, he/she had respected her dying wish until the amnesia.**

**Well, enough with me dispensing my head-canon. Please review.**


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